


The Battle Café

by storm_aurora



Category: Pocket Monsters SPECIAL | Pokemon Adventures
Genre: (the romantic one anyways), Established Relationship, F/M, Gen, Minor Canonical Character(s), Pokemon Battles, Post-Canon, Slice of Life, Strangers to Friends, but it's a very exciting life, in this house we love and respect rival characters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-06
Updated: 2020-11-06
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:08:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,159
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27428443
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/storm_aurora/pseuds/storm_aurora
Summary: Café Partenaire is a modest little battle café run by the Kalos Pokédex holders. Their specialty? Giving customers a fun and exciting Multi Battle experience. Today, it's just business as usual at the café - but the first two Trainers who order battles are certainly going to make the routine a little more interesting.
Relationships: Hop & Hyuu | Hugh, X/Y | Yvonne Gabena
Comments: 4
Kudos: 17





	The Battle Café

**Author's Note:**

> This was written as part of a collab with Koi and Aero from Discord! The two of them worked together to create the gorgeous art that accompanies this fic.
> 
> And as it's still his birthday in my timezone, I'd like to wish X a very happy birthday!

Convincing X to start a battle café with her may have been one of the best decisions of Y’s life.

She’d come up with the idea after visiting one of Lumiose City’s famous battle cafés and being disappointed by the lack of enthusiasm the staff had for their craft. They were so focused on delivering the highest-quality food and a refined dining experience fitting of the number of “stars” their restaurant held that the battles themselves were stuffy and bland. Y wanted to give people a fun and exciting battle experience on top of delicious food, and who better to help her with that than her battle-savvy best friend?

Y loves running the café with X. They’ve got a good system going – X busses tables and prepares the food and drinks while Y does the waitressing. Emma helps X out in the kitchen and takes over as waitress while X and Y are battling customers. The café gets busy sometimes, but Y finds that busyness to be part of the fun. She challenges herself to get to know every one of their customers personally – everyone’s got their own story to tell, and Y loves to hear them.

X, on the other hand, isn’t a huge fan of the work or the people, but for him the battles more than make up for it. He enjoys getting to battle casual Trainers in low-stakes battles, where no one is watching him and judging his every move. He likes getting to learn from other Trainers, too. Everyone has their own unique battle style, and X looks for the interesting and effective elements of each opponent’s style and incorporates them into his own battling.

The café is located on the outskirts of Lumiose City, so they get a lot of tourist traffic – which means a wide variety of people for Y to meet and X to learn from. It’s always exciting to see people from all over the world grace their humble little battle café. There’s never a dull moment in a place where Kalosians are serving Kantonians, Hoennians, Unovans, and Galarians all under one roof.

“Hey, X, when you’ve got a minute, table 4 needs to be cleared,” Y calls as she picks up a round of smoothies from the order window. “And we’ve got one new order!”

“But still no battles?”

“Still no battles.” Y sighs. “Even I’m itching for a fight at this point. What a slow day.”

“If it were a slow day, I wouldn’t need you to tell me which tables are in need of bussing,” X grunts, appearing at the kitchen entrance with a washcloth and bin for dirty dishes. He heads for table 4 while Y brings her tray of smoothies to the customers at table 1.

Just then, the front doorbell jingles and a teenager around her age walks in. Y doesn’t recognize him and he just stops in the doorway, so he must be a new customer. “Hi, welcome!” she calls, waving at him with one hand while balancing the tray of drinks on the other. “Grab a menu off the podium there, have a seat, and I’ll be with you in a minute!”

The teen grins and gives her a little wave back. Y smiles and gets back to work, delivering the smoothies to table 1 and asking the group if they need anything else. When they decline, she heads back to the kitchen to drop off the empty tray. Then she’s off to the freshly cleared table 4, where the teen has taken a seat.

As she approaches the table, she pulls out a pen, her notepad, and an exuberant smile. “Welcome to Café Partenaire! First time here?”

The teen looks up from the menu and grins sheepishly. “Yeah. Was I that obvious?”

“I’ve got a good memory for my customers, and you didn’t look like you knew what you needed to do when you came in,” Y says. “Sounds like you’re not from around here, either. Galarian?”

“Spot on!” the teen exclaims, eyes widening. “You’re really good at this, mate!”

“Call me Y,” she says. “And I’ve had a lot of practice. Usually I can even distinguish between North and South Galarian accents, but…yours is a bit harder to pin down.”

The teen nods thoughtfully. “I’m from Postwick, in south Galar. But my big bro’s lived in Wyndon most my life, and I’ve got friends all over. So I don’t have a really strong South Galarian accent.”

“Oh, interesting,” Y says. “What’s your name, by the way?”

“I’m Hop!”

“Nice to meet you, Hop. What can I get for you?” she asks, readying her notepad.

“I’ll take the café special!” Hop declares, slapping his menu down on the table with a little more force than necessary.

Y’s smile grows, and she tucks her notepad back into her pocket. It’s about time. She collects payment up front, as usual, and informs Hop that the café special comes with a complimentary beverage. He orders a Soda Pop, and she tells him it’ll be right out.

“Soda Pop for table 4!” Y announces, striding into the kitchen.

X perks up at that; there’s a gleam in his eye when he turns away from the fryer. “Watch these,” he orders, pointing to the currently cooking basket of fries. Y nods. X grabs a bottle of Soda Pop from the refrigerator and heads out into the dining room.

Offering a complimentary beverage with the café special was one of X’s best ideas. Its purpose is threefold. One, it ensures that the customer is properly hydrated before their battle. (For the same reason, Y intends to make sure X drinks something when he gets back.) Two, it gives X the opportunity to meet the customer and get an idea of their skill level. Three, it gives the customer something to do while they wait for someone else to order the café special. They don’t want to make their customers wait too long for a battle, but it’s far more fun when two customers order the special around the same time.

The fries have cooked to a nice golden brown by the time X returns to the kitchen. “So? Your thoughts?” Y asks.

“He’s friendly,” X says. “Maybe a little  _ too _ friendly. I asked him how long he’d been a Trainer, not for his whole life story.”

“Aw, I wanted to hear his whole life story. I bet it’s  _ fascinating _ .”

“Really? I didn’t realize you had a thing for foreign boys. Or is it just Galarian ones?”

“Jealous, are we?” Y smirks. She throws her arms around X’s neck. “Don’t worry, you don’t have anything to fear from foreign boys like Hop.” She leans closer so she can whisper in his ear. “It’s only the cute ones that you need to worry about.”

“Please get a room.”

Y yelps and stumbles backwards, letting go of X. He grabs onto her arm to steady her. “Emma! How long have you been standing there?”

“Since I realized you had stopped paying attention to the fries and were letting them burn,” she says in her usual quiet, matter-of-fact way. “Don’t you have customers to be serving?”

“Oh, uh – right,” Y stammers. She turns back to X, gives him a quick peck on the cheek, and hurries back out to the dining room.

Hop and the triplets at table 1 are still right where she left them, but Selphy from table 2 and Kiri from table 3 have both finished their food and headed out. In addition, there’s a new customer standing at the entrance, flipping disinterestedly through a menu. Like Hop, he’s a teenage boy who appears to be around her age. Unlike Hop, he has rather guarded body language and a serious expression on his face.

“Hi there! Sorry for the wait,” Y says, rushing over to table 2. “Let me clear off this table for you–”

“I’m here for a battle,” the teen interrupts, looking up from the menu.

Y blinks. No one’s ordered the café special all day, and now they have two requests for it in a row? She’s not complaining, but it’s an odd coincidence. “Excellent! I’ll finish clearing off this table so you can have a seat, and–”

“I don’t need a seat,” he says, leveling a glare at her. “I’m not here to eat. I just want a battle.”

Y takes a deep breath in and lets it out. They get these kinds of customers from time to time – the ones who are either too impatient or too arrogant to listen to her and follow the standard procedure for battling. They get on her nerves every time, but in the interest of professionalism, she tries not to let it show.

“Here at Café Partenaire, we provide full sit-down service to our customers,” she says. “If you’d like to order the café special, you’ll need to have a seat first.”

“That’s stupid! You can’t fight a battle sitting down.”

Y grits her teeth. “You won’t be sitting down for the battle. But there’s things that have to be done before you can battle–”

“Skip those, then. I want to get to the battle.”

“–including  _ payment _ ,” Y says forcefully. “We don’t offer battles for free, you know.”

The teen at least has the decency to look a little abashed at that.

“Just sit down, mate!” Hop yells. “The longer you argue with her, the longer it’s gonna take for you to get your battle.”

The teen side-eyes Hop, but with an exaggerated huff, relents. Y finishes clearing off the table, he has a seat, and she gets his payment and drink order.

She doesn’t immediately take the order back to the kitchen, though. “I’m sorry,” she says. “I know we didn’t start off on the right foot, but I do like to get to know all my customers. My name is Y. What’s yours?”

He glances at her, glare still on his face. On closer inspection, though, she realizes that there doesn’t seem to be any real heat behind the look; maybe that intense gaze is just a neutral expression for him. 

“Hugh,” he says.

“Where are you from, Hugh?” she asks. She can tell by his accent that he’s from Unova, but Unovan accents vary even more than Galarian ones, and her Unovan geography is a little rusty.

“Aspertia City. Unova,” he says. Her lack of recognition must be evident on her face, because he adds without prompting, “Southwest Unova.”

“Ooh, I see. I’m from Vaniville Town, right here in Central Kalos,” Y says. “It’s nice to meet you! My partner will be back with your drink in a moment.”

Y heads back to the kitchen and finds X and Emma engrossed in a game of pick-up sticks using burnt fries. “Lemonade for table 2!” she declares. “Also, X, table 3 needs bussing. C’mon, pick up the slack!”

“Another special already?” X says, straightening up. “That was fast.”

“Yeah, I know. It’s great!” Y grins. “Now hurry up and bring the new customer his drink so we can get to the battle!”

After X leaves, Emma starts tallying up her and X’s scores. Y leaves her to it, pouring a new basket of fries and putting them in the fryer. But Emma quickly takes over that, shooing Y back out to the dining room. That’s fair; Emma doesn’t need a new set of pick-up sticks to play with.

Speaking of which – “Who won the game?”

“I did.”

“Good for you!”

When Y returns to the dining room, she’s disappointed to find that the triplets have left, killing her chances of catching up on the latest news from Striaton City. However, that’s made up for by the fact that Trevor has dropped by the café on his lunch break. She greets him with a big hug and listens as he emphatically describes the new experiment that he and Professor Sycamore are conducting. Once she notices X has returned to the kitchen, though, she has to end the conversation and get back to work.

“So, battle meister, what’s your final assessment?” Y asks as soon as she enters the kitchen.

“They’re both experienced Trainers,” X reports. “Hugh’s been battling longer, but Hop has more competitive battling experience. They’ll both make interesting opponents.”

“Awesome!” Y exclaims. “Feels like it’s been ages since we last had a tough opponent. This is gonna be so much fun!”

* * *

Once Hugh and Hop have both finished their drinks, it’s finally time for the battle. Y volunteers to escort Hop up to the battlefield, which leaves X to escort Hugh.

“Hey, sorry about the wait!” Y says as she approaches table 4.

Hop’s eyes sparkle with excitement. “Is it time for the battle?”

“You bet! Follow me!”

She leads Hop to the staircase on the side of the café. “Oh, so the battlefield is on the second floor?” he asks.

“Even better!” Y replies.

She opens the door at the top of the staircase and walks out onto the roof. Hop gasps behind her. “Welcome to the official battlefield of Café Partenaire!” she exclaims, spreading her arms.

The battlefield itself isn’t terribly impressive, just a bunch of white lines painted on the concrete roof. However, the view from up here of Parterre Way’s gardens and perfectly trimmed hedge mazes with Lumiose City in the distance is gorgeous.

“Um, isn’t it a little dangerous to be battling on top of a roof with no guardrails or anything?” Hop asks.

Y laughs. “And Pokémon battles aren’t dangerous? Don’t worry,” she says, patting him on the shoulder. “The battlefield’s nowhere near the edge of the roof, so we’re not in any danger of falling off!”

“Right,” Hop says, but he still doesn’t look convinced. “So…where’s my opponent?”

“He’ll be up in a minute,” Y says.

A few moments later, X emerges onto the roof with Hugh following close behind. Hugh doesn’t spend much time observing the battlefield, instead staring immediately at Y and Hop. He narrows his eyes as they approach. “I have to fight  _ him _ ?” he asks.

“Nope!” Y responds cheerfully, clapping Hop on the shoulder and pushing him closer to Hugh. “He’s your partner!”

“Partner!?” both boys exclaim simultaneously.

“Y’see, the thing about Café Partenaire that makes it a little different from the battle cafés you’ll find in Lumiose is that we specialize in Multi Battles,” Y explains with a wink. “When two Trainers both order the café special, they’ll have to work together to defeat our staff if they want to earn the special prize!”

“So who do we have to fight?” Hugh demands.

Y grins, taking a few steps back from the customers. She glances to her right, where X has moved to stand next to her. He gives her a curt nod, and she nods back. Then, moving in sync, they both untie their aprons from their waists and fling them aside.

“You’ll be battling us!”

Y always loves seeing the look of shock on customers’ faces when they realize they’re going to be battling the people who were just serving them moments before. Hugh’s eyes only widen for a moment before returning to their usual intense stare, but Hop gapes at them like a Magikarp out of water.

“You – you’re serious?  _ You guys _ are the super-tough opponents that we’re supposed to battle?” Hop exclaims.

“Never judge a Trainer’s skill by their appearance,” Hugh says. He folds his arms and looks Hop up and down. “You don’t look like you’re all that yourself, but you must be a strong Trainer or you wouldn’t be here.”

“What’s that supposed to mean? You think I look weak!?” Hop shouts, intruding in Hugh’s personal space. He’s only a few inches taller, but standing that close to Hugh makes it look like Hop towers over the other boy.

“I’m not saying you look strong,” Hugh says coldly, glaring up at him.

Y glances at X with a hint of concern. Throwing strangers into a battle together is a little risky because they don’t always get along, but they don’t usually get this openly hostile towards each other before the battle’s even started. She definitely didn’t expect this much hostility from Hop – he’d been so friendly and nice with her. If they clash this much outside of battle, she can already tell that the battle itself will be a disaster. “Should we do something?” she whispers.

X shrugs. “If they really want to battle us, they’ll figure it out.”

Hop finally leans back and folds his hands behind his head. “Well, it doesn’t matter whose accomplishments as a Trainer are better or whatever,” he says. “We’re not fighting each other. So you’ll see just how skilled I am when we’re fighting them” – he points at X and Y – “on the battlefield.”

“The best place to evaluate a Trainer’s skill,” Hugh agrees with a curt nod of the head.

“Then let’s do this together and win that special prize!” Hop declares, holding out his hand. “The name’s Hop, by the way.”

“Hugh,” Hugh says, shaking it.

“Sounds like you’re ready to battle!” Y says with a relieved smile. “Let’s get in position, shall we?”

The four Trainers take their places on the battlefield – Hop and Hugh on the side closest to the stairs, X and Y on the far side. Once everyone’s in position, Y explains the rules: a two-on-two Multi Battle, with each Trainer only being allowed a single Pokémon. Whichever team manages to knock out both of the opposing team’s Pokémon is declared the winner.

“I’m counting on you, Veevee!”

“Let’s do this, Kanga.”

“Go, Flygon!”

“Corviknight, let’s go!”

Y quickly assesses the type matchups in her head. Veevee has the advantage against Flygon but the disadvantage against Corviknight. Kanga’s at a type disadvantage against Corviknight as well, but she has moves that’ll allow her to hit both Pokémon super effectively. That still makes Corviknight the bigger threat.

“Double team Corviknight?” she mutters under her breath.

X shakes his head almost imperceptibly. “Support me. See what they can do.”

Y dips her head, pretending to adjust her necktie. “You guys ready?” she calls across the battlefield. Hop gives her a thumbs-up. “Then let’s get this battle started! Veevee, Misty Terrain!”

Veevee closes her eyes and lifts her head. A cloud of pink mist begins to emanate from her body, swirling around her and Kanga’s legs. It quickly spreads across the whole battlefield, but Corviknight and Flygon hover just above the mist.

Hugh scowls. “That was a waste of a move. Misty Terrain won’t affect our Pokémon!”

“Their Pokémon can still benefit from it,” Hop points out. “But let’s not give ’em a reason to! Corviknight, Steel Wing on Sylveon!”

“Flygon, use Rock Slide!” Hugh commands.

“Whoa, whoa, wait!” Hop cries, but Flygon is already executing the order.

“Dodge it!” X and Y command simultaneously.

“Corviknight, fall back!” Hop exclaims. Corviknight pulls its head back to stop its charge just before it reaches the torrent of boulders that Flygon is raining down on Kanga and Veevee.

Veevee is nimble enough to dodge most of them, but Kanga isn’t so lucky, taking a decent amount of damage. “Shake it off, Kanga,” X says. “We’re just getting started.”

“What the heck was that, mate?” Hop shouts, glaring at Hugh. “Are you trying to sabotage me!?”

“Sabotage!? I was doing us a favor by attacking both our opponents at once!” Hugh snaps.

“You nearly took Corviknight out with that Rock Slide!”

“I figured you were capable of making sure your Pokemon didn’t get hit by the attack. Which you were. So I don’t see what the big deal is!”

“The big deal is that Corviknight couldn’t attack at all because you decided you wanted to attack both of them at once!”

While they continue arguing, Y glances at X. “Should we, uh, let them finish, or…?”

“Let’s get their attention back here,” X says. “Kanga, use Thunderbolt on Corviknight.”

“Works for me,” Y grins. “Veevee, Moonblast on Flygon!”

Kanga’s body begins to crackle with electricity while Veevee glows with bluish-pink energy. They launch their attacks simultaneously, knocking both Flygon and Corviknight to the ground. That’s finally enough to catch Hugh and Hop’s attention.

“Flygon, are you alright?” Hugh asks. His Pokemon picks itself up and flaps its wings a couple of times to prove that it’s still full of energy. He nods with satisfaction and then levels a glare at Hop. “Look what you’ve done. If you hadn’t started that argument–”

“I wouldn’t have started it if you hadn’t given me a reason to!” Hop shoots back. Then he shakes his head. “Look, we can’t keep arguing like this if we want to win this battle. We’re s’posed to be fighting  _ them _ , not each other. So let’s each focus on one opponent so we don’t keep getting in each other’s way. Fair?”

“Alright,” Hugh says, turning his intense stare back to X and Y. “I’ll take Kangaskhan, you take Sylveon.” 

Hop grins. “I can work with that.”

“Flygon, use Superpower!”

“Corviknight, Steel Wing on Sylveon, let’s go!”

Corviknight and Flygon flap their wings and shoot across the battlefield. They’re both on the opposite side from their intended targets, though, and their trajectories put them directly on a collision course with each other. Fortunately for them, a quick command from Hugh to slightly adjust Flygon’s direction saves them from colliding.

But Y’s not just going to roll over and let them get in a free attack just because they finally figured out that they need to cooperate. “Veevee, Baby-Doll Eyes!” she commands.

Veevee bats her eyes cutely at Corviknight. It slows down a bit but doesn’t stop completely, so it’s still able to land a solid hit. Veevee stumbles back a few paces but remains standing. “Way to hang in there, Veevee! Retaliate with Draining Kiss!”

As Veevee kisses away some of Corviknight’s vitality, Y chances a look over at X and Kanga. Flygon landed a direct hit on Kanga, but now that it’s at close range, she’s grabbed onto its arms to hold it in place.

“Use Outrage!” X orders. Kanga glows with a faint red aura and punches Flygon in the stomach, then flings it away. Y winces.

“Hey! Your opponent’s over here!” Hop calls, waving and grinning cheekily. “Corviknight, keep up the Steel Wings!”

“Dodge it, Veevee!” Y shouts. Veevee does her best to avoid the strikes from Corviknight’s wings, but she’s slowly being pushed into the corner of the battlefield and once she’s there, she’ll have nowhere to go. If only there was some way they could get past Corviknight without giving it time to land a hit…

Flygon and Kanga are still locked in close-quarters combat in the center of the field, and suddenly Y has an idea. “Veevee, use Quick Attack! Aim for Flygon!”

Veevee twists in midair to avoid Corviknight’s wings and lands on the ground in a crouch. It only takes her a moment to pinpoint Flygon’s location. She darts forward. Corviknight can’t move fast enough. Veevee slips under its wings easily, racing towards Flygon. But she realizes at the same time as Y that she won’t be able to attack Flygon without risking hitting Kanga as well, so she stops once she’s gotten a safe distance away from Corviknight.

“Good work, Veevee! Now, give Corviknight a Moonblast!”

Corviknight only has time to turn around before Veevee’s Moonblast is hitting it head-on. But when the dust settles, it shakes its head, barely fazed by the attack. “Nice move,” Hop says to Y. “But it’ll take a lot more than that to defeat a Pokemon with a type advantage!”

“Don’t get too confident! We’re just getting started!” Y replies with a smirk.

“ _ What!? _ ”

Hugh’s indignant cry draws Y’s attention back to Flygon and Kanga. Kanga is a little hunched over and breathing heavily, but she still looks much better off than Flygon; it’s lying on the ground, fainted.

“How could Outrage have done that much damage!? Dragon-type moves have their power halved on Misty Terrain!” Hugh exclaims.

“Yes, but Misty Terrain only affects Pokémon that are on the ground,” X says. “Since Flygon has Levitate, it’s not protected by the mist. Dragon-type moves used  _ on _ it don’t have their power reduced, while Dragon-type moves used  _ by _ it do – as long as the Pokémon it’s attacking is grounded, like Kanga.”

“ _ That’s _ how Misty Terrain works?” Hugh folds his arms, a contemplative look on his face. “But the other terrains boost the power of the  _ user’s _ moves…”

“Yeah, so Misty Terrain protects Pokémon on the field instead of powering them up,” Hop says. “You really didn’t know that, mate? What happened to that whole ‘graduating at the top of your class’ thing that you were bragging about earlier?”

“Terrain was just being introduced to battles when I was in school,” Hugh says defensively. “They didn’t teach us about it. I had to learn about it from my own research and battles.”

“Well, there’s the trick. You shouldn’t learn just from the battles that you take part in. You can learn a lot by watching other people battle, too. Keep that up, and you’ll be practically unbeatable!” Hop grins.

Hugh looks at Hop for a moment as if studying him. “I’ll keep that in mind,” he says. He returns Flygon and sticks his hands in his pockets. “You’re on your own now. Don’t screw this up.”

“Right…no pressure,” Hop says with a nervous chuckle. He closes his eyes and slaps his hands on his cheeks twice before opening them, a new determination blazing in his eyes. “Let’s do this, Corviknight!”

Corviknight spreads its wings and raises its head high, letting out a shrill cry. Sunlight glints off its metal feathers. Its large wingspan makes it look twice as big as normal – a massive, menacing black figure that towers over Y even though she’s standing several feet away. It flaps its wings to take off, blowing a gust of air strong enough to dislodge the hair tucked behind Y’s ears. Even injured, Corviknight exudes a dominating aura. They can’t let their guard down if they want to defeat it.

As Corviknight moves back to Hop’s side of the battlefield, Y glances over at X. “Looks like we’re gonna get to double team Corviknight after all,” she says with a grin.

“Looks like it,” he agrees.

“Veevee, Draining Kiss!”

“Kanga, Mega Punch!”

As the two Pokemon charge at Corviknight together, Hop commands, “Corviknight, fly as low to the ground as possible and meet them with Steel Wing!”

Corviknight flaps its wings, gaining some height, and then dives down to the ground. It pulls out of the dive just before it hits the ground, letting its momentum propel it towards Kanga and Veevee.

“Veevee, jump over it!” Y shouts.

Veevee leaps into the air just before Corviknight reaches her so it passes right underneath her. Kanga, on the other hand, is far less agile. Corviknight’s wing slams into Kanga’s legs, stopping their motion while her upper body continues to move forward. She slams into the ground while Corviknight slows to a halt in front of X and Y, completely unscathed.

“Quick, before it gets up – Drill Peck on Kangaskhan!” Hop orders.

Corviknight turns around and flies at Kanga again, this time tucking its wings close to its body and rotating itself like a drill. Kanga is struggling to her feet, but she’s not going to have time to get up and move out of Corviknight’s way.

“Now, Veevee, Quick Attack!”

Veevee darts at Corviknight and rams into it. She’s thrown to the ground by the rotation of Corviknight’s body, but the force is enough to knock Corviknight off course. Instead of hitting Kanga, Corviknight crashes into the ground. Meanwhile, Kanga gets to her feet, ready to attack.

“Let’s finish this off,” X says.

“Sounds good to me!”

“Thunderbolt!”

“Moonblast!”

Corviknight barely has time to pick itself up off the ground before it’s being hit by the combined force of Kanga and Veevee’s attacks. It collapses, wings splayed out, unmoving.

“Looks like Corviknight can’t battle anymore,” Y says. “Which means…me and X win!” She turns to X, and they share a quick kiss. “Lovely battling with you, as always.”

“Same to you,” he says, smiling softly. “You fought well.”

She and X return their Pokémon and jog to the other side of the field, where Hop has returned his Corviknight and stands facing Hugh.

Hop lowers his head. “I’m sorry. You were counting on Corviknight and I to win the battle, and we couldn’t do it. It’s my fault we lost…”

Hugh sighs. “You wouldn’t have been in that situation if Flygon hadn’t gotten knocked out first. I should’ve been stronger.”

“No,” X interrupts. “You’re missing the root of the problem. The reason you lost isn’t because either of you were too weak – it’s obvious you’re both skilled Trainers. But you weren’t working as a team, and teamwork is crucial to winning a Multi Battle.”

Hop and Hugh stare at X and then look at each other. Hop sighs and folds his hands behind his head. “You’re right about that, mate. We weren’t working together at all. I was so focused on proving my own strength that I didn’t think about anything other than my Pokémon.”

“I did the same thing,” Hugh admits. He pulls his hands out of his pockets and glances at Hop. “You did pretty well taking on both of them by yourself, though. Having Corviknight fly close to the ground like that to trip them up was clever.”

“You think?” Hop grins, his cheeks tinged a faint pink. “Uh, I can’t really take credit for it. It’s a trick I picked up from my bro.”

Hugh turns to face Hop fully now, an inquisitive look on his face. “You have a brother? Older or younger?”

“Older,” Hop says with a chuckle. “By quite a bit.”

“Oh. I’ve got a younger sister,” Hugh says by way of explanation. “She’s a Trainer, too, but…she’s never had much interest in battling.”

“Really? I can’t imagine what that’s like. I think I inherited my love of battling from my brother,” Hop says, grinning widely.

“Must be nice, having a sibling who actually wants to battle with you.”

“Oh, I wish. By the time I became a Trainer, Lee was already  _ leagues _ better than me, and he was hardly ever around anyways…”

The two boys head to the stairs, chatting about their siblings like old friends catching up after a long time. Hop pauses to wave goodbye and thank them for the battle. Then the pair head downstairs together, leaving X and Y alone on the roof.

X picks up the aprons off the ground and hands Y hers. She takes it with a smile and ties it back around her waist. Of all the things she loves about running the battle café, this has to be her favorite – getting to bring other Trainers closer together.

**Author's Note:**

> This is a work of fiction. The opinions on the cuteness of certain rival characters expressed in this fic are wholly Y’s and do not reflect the views of the creator.


End file.
